Mothers find themselves in trouble as soon as Ramadan arrives, whether they trained their children in a sleep routine, or those who did not train them;
Usually the children's biological clock is set to go to sleep after sunset, which is the time for breakfast, which is a crisis, because the young child gets used to the presence of his mother before bed, or the desire of children over the age of 6 years to share their father performing Tarawih prayers, and follow-up programs directed to children.
For these reasons, you will need to make some adjustments to the sleep times of your children, and the tasks required of them during the day, in order to enjoy a quiet month, without a day that lacks the spirituality of the holy month, or a lot of chaos.
If this was your first experience in setting a routine for your child's day, the first step is to understand his needs, such as: when he eats, when he needs to sleep, when he wakes up, or does random things, and observes him for a few days without interfering with any adjustments, and write down those appointments after a week of follow-up. Your child will know his needs, which will help you to plan easily, and enable you to define your own routine according to his day if he is a baby, or start changing his food routine, activity, and sleep, if he is over 6 years old, by waking him up 15 minutes early every day than before.
For some mothers, the month of Ramadan means staying up late for hours, waking up with noon prayers, and having difficulty preparing iftar meals amid the children's needs.
The solution to this dilemma is to introduce the nap, or re-enter it into the daily routine.
Some children give up sleep during the day with age, and infants sleep only about 15 minutes, which means a lot of fuss and obstacles on your way. In the new system you wake up early to worship, so that your children wake up to play, do homework, and electronic classes, provided that the time is The pre-nap is full of activities, so the older child sleeps for 45 consecutive minutes, which will postpone his desire to sleep at night until after nine o'clock, and children younger than 3 years old can take more than one nap during the day.
Usually parents get tired of fasting during the day and want some time to relax in the evening;
But children do not understand that, for young children, Ramadan does not seem different except for the behavior of their parents, and to change that you can talk to them about the holy month, and they will feel excitement and importance, especially if you add some activities to their day such as decorating rooms, and pay attention to you and their father while you perform the prayer on time, what It has the greatest impact on the psyche of children.
You should not stop your older child's activities schedule, so that he does not lose the cognitive skills that you spent months teaching him, and because you need some special time for worship during the day;
But you can change these activities with the aim of introducing it to the holy month in a way that does not require your presence with it.
You can start with activities that depend on copying, printing, coloring and pasting, such as designing cardboard lanterns, drawing the five pillars of Islam, designing prayer times, or short Quranic surahs to perform in family gatherings, and so the child learns to respect your own time in practicing religious rituals. .
The difference in meal times during Ramadan adds a burden on you
Because your child will not eat the same food that you will eat after a full day fast;
But this does not mean that you will cook throughout the day. The solution is to prepare a list of all the foods that your child can eat during the month of Ramadan, snacks, and easy recipes that do not need to be prepared, such as relying on low-calorie nuts, yogurt, and fruits as a snack before his nap, and feed him Part of the healthy plate that you prepared at the time of his nap and included in your breakfast, so that you do not have to feed him at the time of your breakfast.
Likewise, when breastfeeding, you will gradually introduce the dates for breastfeeding to suit the dates of Iftar and Suhoor.
If you train your child to wash dishes all year long, and are afraid to backtrack on that step;
In order for breakfast time to conflict with the new routine that you wish to establish, it is better to give priority to what is most important, for instead of quarrels every night about washing dishes, because of his desire to pray with his father, or follow one of the series with you, you can postpone his tasks until the morning, and avoid complaining at the nights of the month Generous.
Children can help you with some daily household tasks (Getty Images)
Ensure that most of your child's physical and mental activities are postponed for a while;
To ensure his sleep during the day, to avoid any stimulating activities to his mind after nine o'clock, while collecting electronic devices from his room, collecting pre-Ramadan games, and calming the atmosphere at home, so that everyone prepares for sleep, which is what you also need before the time of suhoor.
You can help your child to accept the changes in his day, and if he resists the new routine, give him the opportunity to choose, and set rules for a new routine, children love to participate in the decision-making process, and it is difficult for them to refuse to follow the rules they chose. Know that just as we adults need to record our daily tasks. In order not to forget them, your child also needs to be reminded, by writing routine tasks, dividing them into 3 or 4 basic parts, and placing them on the bathroom mirror.
For younger children, you can pair the schedule with pictures to help them understand the way the day is going, this does not obviate their need for support and a gentle reminder, and thank them for the effort, not the end result.